Then you have to keep up with the driving rules, am I allowed to have my child front-facing? From what age? Do they have to be a certain weight? Do I need a car seat base? Can I just strap the car seat in?
Ideally I would like a car seat that can be used for future babies as well. So, over the course of the next few weeks I’ll be sharing my very honest reviews of a selection of car seats on the market. This week it’s the Amana Siena Twist+ car seat. How does it compare to the rest? Read on to find out.
Amana Siena Twist+ 360
Price: £249.99 on KiddiesKingdom (price correct at time of writing)
Quick lowdown:
- 360 degree rotation
- 5-point harness system & 3-position recline with front-of-seat adjustment
- Stowable harness for use as a booster and stowable Leg for easy storage
- Suitable rearward facing from birth to 18kg
- Suitable forward facing from 15 months
- ISOFIX System for Easy and safe installation and support leg
The review
Though this car seat is slightly more expensive than the Ickle Bubba Radial i-Size Plus 360 Spin, which is very similar, the materials used are sustainable yet it still looks lavish.
In terms of my first impressions, straight out of the box I noticed how comfortable the car seat would be for my toddler. Like any curious child, she of course dove straight into it and wanted to be strapped in.
While I explored the car seat she happily sat watching TV looking extremely relaxed — which is big for a toddler who doesn’t actually sit still.
The 360 degree rotation was easy to figure out, considering we struggled when we tried to rotate the Ickle Bubba, this one was a lot more user friendly. Alongside this I really like the fact that this car seat can be used for up to 12 years.
What’s great is that it has a booster seat that can be used once your child grows bigger, for me this is really important because when you’re spending so much money on a car seat, it needs to be long lasting.
However, I would knock a point off as though it says it is suitable from birth — I wouldn’t recommend for this car seat for newborns as you cannot remove it from the car if your baby is sleeping.
Also, though it does recline into three positions, for a newborn I feel it doesn’t recline as far as the infant specific car seats, such as my current Cybex Cloud Z.
To conclude, I would recommend this car seat for parents looking for one made with comfortable sustainable materials, is able to rotate 360 degrees and is long-lasting. But for the price, you can buy the Ickle Bubba Radial for around £60 less and it’s more or less the same specifications.